Saturday, 6 July 2013

The third trailer for "Empire: Migrants" looks
at Ghana’s aging, mixed-race elite through the eyes of the Dutch-descended
photographer Isaac Vanderpuije. Watch it big and with headphones.

"Empire: Migrants" traces the unintended
consequences of Dutch colonialism in South America and Africa. The project is
supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, with
additional coordination from the National Archives of The Netherlands. Follow
the project at sinisterhumanists.tumblr.com

Directed, shot and edited by Kel O'Neill and Eline
Jongsma

The European-descended aristocracy in Ghana

The old guard

James suits up

A respectable dwelling

Proper English tea time

…aren’t what they used to be. Once the proud leaders of a
country full of promise, these well-to-do fellows are increasingly relegated to
Ghana’s collective memory.

The latest (and final) piece of Empire: Migrants looks
back at Ghana’s aging elite through the eyes of the Dutch-descended
photographer Isaac Vanderpuije, owner of the Deo Gratias photo studio. At its height
in the early 20th century, Deo Gratias was the most successful photo studio in
Accra. Although the studio has fallen on harder times in recent years, its
walls are still decorated with images of the unofficial nobility—including a
good number of Freemasons—who came to have their pictures taken. These
sharply-dressed men created a hybrid culture that drew from European and
African style in equal measure.

A meditation on personal presentation and the power of
images, the last section of Empire: Migrants investigates the importance of
recording history before it fades away.

Stay tuned for news about the film as it comes together,
and for information about upcoming screenings.

Portraits of Ghanaian Freemasons

Ambassador James Aggrey Orleans

Dr Charles Van Dyck

Mr Ebow Daniel

For
the past 3 weeks, we’ve been hot on the trail of Ghana’s elderly elite, and
these gentlemen are it. They come from the highest ranks of academia and civil
service. Some are of Dutch extraction, some of British. What they all share is
membership in a global fraternal order led by the Duke of Kent, which explains
the clothes.

European Masters

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Devilish westerners

The face of a new empire
Winneba, a small city on Ghana’s central coast, was a European hotspot during the 19th century. While the African locals earned their living as fishermen, Dutch and British traders grew fat on earnings from the gold and slave trades.

The Europeans may be long gone, but their spirit lives on at the Winneba Fancy Dress Festival, a yearly event dedicated to the mocking/lauding of the long-departed colonists. Participants wear light-skinned masks and flouncy clothes, and dance like there’s no tomorrow. Dancers choose their costumes from a variety of strictly-defined categories: there are Robin Hoods, Devils and, of course, European Masters.

The
Craft

1859
marked the consecration of the first Masonic lodge on the Gold Coast of Africa.

Of
the lodge’s seven founders, six had British or Irish names, while one man,
Brother Charles Bartels, did not. Bartels’ name placed him just slightly apart
from his colleagues, and marked him as a descendant of C.L. Bartels, former
Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast.

The
late 19th century saw the end of the Dutch empire’s influence over the Gold
Coast (current-day Ghana), and the beginning of British rule over the region.
The mixed-race traders who controlled the colony’s commerce under the Dutch
went with the flow and became anglicized. As time wore on, they mingled with
the British and their British-African offspring, and joined their secret clubs.
They found positions in the higher ranks of civil service, attended Oxford and
Cambridge, and spoke in sparkling Received Pronunciation of the English
aristocracy.

Jimmy
Phillips, whose portrait you can see in the photo on the right, is one of the
last representatives of that era. Jimmy is of Dutch, British and African
descent, and is connected to the Bartels family line. He is also the
Freemason’s former District Grandmaster For Ghana. We love Jimmy, and are
currently spending a lot of time with him and his wife Rachel while shooting
Empire: Migrants.

Continental
drift

Gold
seekers dig up Elmina's beach

Logo
of the Dutch West India Company

The
beach in front of Elmina Castle has been taken over by gold seekers. Young men
looking for a quick buck build gold sluices in the shadow of West Africa’s most
famous slave fort. They pile the sluices high with beach sand, then drown the
sand with buckets of seawater laced with mercury.

We
arrived in Ghana four days ago, but we can’t shake the feeling that we’re still
in Suriname. The streets are full of faces that wouldn’t be out of place in the
gold camps of Brokopondo. Even the language triggers a sense of deja vu—Akan, a
local tongue spoken in Ghana, somehow became “Aukan" on its way across the
Atlantic, and is still the lingua franca of Suriname’s Ndyuka Maroons.

But
the countries share more than a common ethnic heritage. 225 million years ago,
during the time of the Pangea megacontinent, there was no division between West
Africa and the Guyanas. The soil here is the same as the soil in Suriname. It
nurtures similar crops, and holds similar treasures.

But
we’re not here to look for gold. We’re here to look for people in power.

Paulina
Opoku-Gyimah says: the above text and photographs come courtesy of the ‘Sinister
Humanists Tumblr and they are incredible –no? How often do you see these
people, Ghana’s uber hidden elite, within the elite?? Do visit said Tumblr page
–there’s a link below as there are more photographs and more written documentation
of the effects of Dutch colonial rule on Ghana’s elite class.

Also
this documentary looks very interesting. I wonder if they have shown it in Ghana
–if not they must, –Ghanaians love to watch themselves. But really, it’s fab to
see the crew behind this must-see documentary namely Eline Jongsma and Kel
O'Neill do their homework –and also allowed the real subjects in this documentary
to talk-for-themselves. I’m looking for a copy to buy –I truly can’t wait to
watch this film. In the meantime for more info visit: http://sinisterhumanists.tumblr.com/

EMPIRE
is an immersive documentary project by Eline Jongsma & Kel O'Neill about
the unintended consequences of Dutch colonialism in Asia, Africa and the
Americas. World premiere at IDFA, November 2012.

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Disclaimer: The photographs do not belong to me (except the ones I personally shot.) The photographs are used for commenting purpose only. None of the photographs are used for commercial gains unless specified by myself.